Holding the Line
by Kellifer
Summary: The unlooked for threat is always the worst. Apocafuturefic. Team. STORY COMPLETE.
1. Hindsight

Title - Holding The Line

Part One - Hindsight

Summary - The threat that takes you completely by surprise is always  
the worst. (Team)

Category - Apoca/futurefic

Warnings - Spoilers for S9 (episode 1 only).

------

"What if the world needs saving because I screwed up 'cause you weren't here in the first place?"

Cameron supposed he had doomed them with those very words. He could kick himself. It was akin to the 'what else could possibly go wrong?'   
curse that was uttered invariably before something else would go   
wrong.

He figured there was no use berating himself now. There were a  
lot of sins he would have to make up for and he could compile a list  
and set about making amends as soon as he could find a way out of  
the pitch black cell both he and Daniel were being held in. He wished Daniel were awake, if only to berate him for the cavalcade of  
errors in judgment he had made since he had taken on SG-1.

Unfortunately, Daniel wasn't obliging.

Cameron had his hand splayed on Daniel's chest. It was the only way he could reassure himself that the heart beneath was still thumping.  
He couldn't see and with the ringing in his ears he couldn't hear a   
damn thing. For all he knew there were others in the cell with them  
so he would die before he broke the tenuous contact he had with the   
archeologist. He had inherited these precious people and he felt he had let them down so very badly.

O'Neill would kick his ass.

xxxxxx

"There's something... not right." Daniel said, the telltale line of   
concern etching itself between his brows.

"Behold our resident linguist." Sam snorted, not even looking up  
from the laptop she was wrestling from her pack. Cameron was  
watching the two scientists as Teal'c walked the perimeter and he  
was still amazed by the level of comfort and understanding shared by  
the three people he now accompanied through the Stargate. He ached for the kind of bond they shared and although they strived to  
include him, which he was grateful for, he still didn't feel like he  
was quite there yet.

Then Sam turned a wry grin his way and he felt reassured.

"Didn't anyone else notice something a little... off." Daniel was   
making a helpless gesture with his hands and Cameron was now  
watching him carefully. Sam might've mocked, but Cameron actually  
understood Daniel's predicament. He had spent years being urged to  
put things into their simplest terms from just an impatient glare  
from O'Neill that he now naturally did it, even if it rendered what  
he was trying to say nonsensical.

Cameron felt a little pang of sadness.

O'Neill might have actually understood what Daniel was getting at. 

"Elaborate." Cameron said simply, resting his arms on the butt of  
his P-90 and turning his full attention to Daniel.

Daniel blinked for a second, like he didn't know what to do with  
someone who was actually inviting him to continue. He recovered from  
his initial shock and became more animated.

"The Kerroan people were simple farmers the first time we came through the Stargate and further anthropological studies have not brought to light any advancements in technology since then. Suddenly with the Goa'uld gone they have started to show signs of an increased understanding of science and technology." Cameron noticed Daniel also had a habit of speaking rapidly when explaining something, like he was worried someone was going to cut him off before he got to the good part.

"You don't think they're just quick learners and were suppressed by  
the Goa'uld to the point where they couldn't advance?" Sam asked,   
still not looking up. Cameron could hear the gentle tapping of Sam   
working. She was cataloguing a piece of equipment in one of the  
Kerroan temples that seemed a little too advanced for them, but was  
missing the usual hallmarks of Goa'uld or Asgard.

"Of course that's possible. Actually, we're expecting with the  
Goa'uld as a threat eliminated, a lot of societies will start to  
develop naturally where they had been artificially retarded. For  
example, when we first went to Abydos, the people were banned from  
reading and writing. You can imagine that kind of thing would stop   
them developing at a normal rate."

Cameron was starting to understand why Daniel needed to be focused   
sometimes. "And you get the hinky feeling because...?"

"Because these people seem to have made a technological evolutionary  
leap of a couple of hundred years and they're trying to hide it."   
Sam had turned her head to regard Daniel as well now, curiosity  
burning brightly in her eyes. Cameron realised that her dismissal of   
Daniel's earlier ramblings wasn't exactly that, but rather she had  
learned when to tune in.

Basically, at the point where what Daniel said was getting  
interesting and wasn't just a prelude.

"Wait, you got that just from the ceremony we were at? All I got  
was that they like to dance and also, might I add, indigestion from  
the overcooked meat they were passing around." Cameron said, holding   
his hands up.

Daniel made a patient face which made Cameron feel like an errant   
student.

"Yes." 

"All righty then. Colonel, you got what you need?" Cameron asked,   
looking at Sam, who nodded. "Cool. Then we get out of here."

"We can't just leave." Daniel protested.

"Sure we can. I get anyone picking up on hinkiness and we high tail  
it out. I trust your judgment Jackson and if your weird-o-meter is   
singing a tune then that's good enough for me."

"I didn't mean-"

"Teal'c." Cameron barked into his radio. He could see Teal'c a  
little way off in the distance turn and raise a hand.

"We're leaving. Head for the 'gate."


	2. Slightly out of character

The postcard had come from Washington a week after he'd finally convinced the members of SG-1 to return to the fold.

_"You leave SG-1 in the same condition you found it or you answer to me._

_P.S. No matter how much you want to strangle him at the time, Daniel is usually right." _

_P.P.S Okay, you're allowed to let Daniel land in the infirmary a total of five times before I get worried. Lord knows I could never keep him out of there._

There'd been no sender name or return address but Cameron knew exactly who the card was from. He'd seen that same neat, military hand on his transfer papers and a number of his medical forms as well. He'd imagined the man taking over when his mother was too distraught.

He'd appreciated that little gesture and that everything was _handled_ for him.

It was enough just worrying about learning to walk again.

Cameron had tacked that postcard up to the inside door of his locker with a wry smile. Now he wished he'd actually paid more attention to it.

xxxxxxx

"How's life?" Cameron looked up to see Jack O'Neill leaning into his doorway, shoulder casually against the jamb. He looked for all the world as if he had just sauntered down from an office rather than from Washington.

"Pretty sweet. Nagging gets you everything you want in life... or so I've learned." Cameron grinned good-naturedly, pushing back from his desk and stretching expansively. He'd been informed that the office he now occupied had been Jack's when he'd been a Colonel and the running joke was that Jack had had no idea where it was. O'Neill turning up in his doorway spoke to the contrary but at that moment Sam appeared at his elbow and Cameron suspected that Jack had been partially guided there.

"I'm just a sucker for a boy in BDU's." Sam sighed dramatically.

"Any big favours require the dress blues though." Jack said with a quirk of the eyebrow and Sam smacked him on the shoulder. Cameron watched the interplay between them and wondered if he would ever get as comfortable with Sam. He'd already struck up a camaraderie of sorts with Teal'c and felt on the way to being quite good friends with Daniel after the numerous Vala related debacles, but Sam was still a little new and while he respected her greatly, he felt sometimes that he was being held at a distance from her.

"We're heading out for beers and steers. Wanna come with?" Jack asked, canting his head. "Teal'c's coming and I could use a little help prying Daniel away from that new book he's got."

"Jackson been on eBay again?" Cameron snorted.

"Nah, he said he got it from your last mission." Jack shrugged and then frowned when he noticed the look that passed between Cameron and Sam.

"I didn't think we-"

"We didn't."

"You cannot tell me Daniel took something offworld without having it catalogued, photographed and analysed three ways from Sunday." Jack admonished, raising a hand. "He's so anal about that stuff. He wouldn't - "

"Steal something?" Cameron finished real concern in his tone. He had been amazed despite Daniel's on-world protests, how quiet the archaeologist had been since they'd returned three days before. Now he knew he should have been more worried about the silence than any fuss he might have kicked up. Silent was just not Daniel's natural state. "He'd said there was something going on with the Kerroans and didn't like us just leaving. I thought he was okay with it though because he hasn't said a word since we've been back."

Jack sighed mightily and shook his head. "Definite warning sign." Sam was nodding, her blue eyes troubled.

If anything, the way Daniel flushed to his hairline when Jack, Sam and Cameron turned up in his doorway, ratcheted their compounded worry up a few notches. He was well aware that he had done something wrong, but managed to look indignant all the same.

"What _have_ you been up to young man?" Jack asked, crossing to Daniel's desk and making a grab for the book he had been poring over. Daniel rescued it and clasped it to his chest.

"There are a number of items on Kerroa that just don't... _gel_, however the anthropologists and other scientists that visited were hard pressed to find any evidence whatsoever that there had been other inhabitants of the world, save the Goa'uld and their Jaffa." Daniel held up the book and waggled it. "This book is in a language that seems to have no Earth derivative. Most if not all of the human civilizations we've come across have had at least some basis in a human language. Neither is the language related to Ancient, Goa'uld or Asgard."

"Where did you find it?" Cameron prompted.

"It was in the temple with the thing Sam was working on."

"Did we take the _thing_ Sam was working on?" Jack asked, glancing at both Cameron and Sam.

"No, Sir. We left pretty quickly." Sam answered, still looking at Daniel with real puzzlement on her features.

"I seem to remember a certain archaeologist having issues about just taking something from another world." Jack grumbled.

"You stole a piece of technology that disables weapons. I stole a book. I think they hardly compare." Daniel snapped.

"Dammit Daniel-"

"Look, it's here now. No use crying over spilled offworld booty." Cameron interjected himself bodily between Jack and Daniel. "Just tell me it's the answer to all your questions and we'll call it even," he directed to Daniel.

"Did nobody hear me saying that this language has no known derivative I can work from? I have no idea where to even start." Daniel scowled. Cameron was tempted to step away and let Jack throttle him, but Jack moved off on his own, knowing it would be far more effective to annoy Daniel than actually kill him. He started picking up artefacts from Daniel's table of current work, removing their labels and swapping them to other items. Cameron heard Daniel let out an exhalation of pure exasperation and fought the urge to laugh out loud.

"Are we not leaving?" Teal'c's voice issued from the hallway. He was dressed casually and had on a black skull cap to hide his tattoo.

"Best idea I've heard all night." Cameron said, clapping his hands together sharply. Daniel opened his mouth to protest but Cameron waved him off. "The stolen book and this argument will still be here when we get back."


	3. Awake

Cameron had been fighting the need to sleep for three days. He would usually have caught a couple of minutes here and there, trusting himself to awaken at the least hint of any furtive noises, but while the ringing in his ears had subsided, it was still there.

He was human though and despite his best efforts, slaps to his own face and stern inner talking-to's, he felt himself dropping off, inch by painful inch. If Cameron had been able to get up and move about he thought he may have been able to stay alert a little longer but he was almost as afraid of losing the contact with Daniel as he was of sleeping. In the pitch darkness, he would have no idea if when he sat down, the chest his hand would find would actually be Jackson.

Cameron Mitchell knew it was only a matter of time and when his eyes finally drooped dangerously someone came.

Light, painful and white had him squinting and scrambling. Cameron's first instinct had been to raise his arms in a defensive posture and he knew it was a mistake as he stretched out his arms again, desperately trying to find Daniel. He'd scrabbled backwards a little though and was only feeling empty space before him when strong hands gripped his shoulders. Cameron swung out blindly and his fist connected solidly with what felt like a jaw. There was a muffled curse and the light dropped away from his face. Cameron reached forward again, desperately trying to relocate Daniel's prone form. Daniel was the one person he had left to protect and he would bodily stand between him and harm if he had to.

"Dammit Mitchell, anyone ever said pilots are soft never got sucker punched by you." Cameron froze at the sound of the familiar voice, not daring to believe... to _hope_, that it was who he thought it was. The offensive light turned out to be from a torch as it was turned upwards, revealing a haggard face, all skin and hard angles, but one he definitely knew.

"O'Neill?" He breathed, gnawing at his lower lip. Cameron was terrified that he had actually dropped off to sleep and was dreaming.

"One and only. You get forgiven for the face if you know where Daniel is." He smiled tiredly, the light from the torch making dark shadows where his eyes should have been. Cameron reached forward and with the tips of his fingers moved the torch down and across until a pair of booted feet was revealed. Jack tracked the rest of the body upwards and then knelt down. "Aw crap." He sighed.

"He's alive, but barely." Cameron crouched on the other side, relieved to finally be able to see the damage that had been inflicted. There was an extremely vivid bruise across Daniel's temple. He watched as Jack's fingers worked their way down Daniel's body, checking for other, less obvious injuries. Daniel let out a soft moan when Jack pressed into the ribs on his left side and in the dim, reflected light of the torch, Cameron could see Jack wince.

"I know that hurts buddy." He said in a low voice, his fingers skating down over groin and hips and then further down Daniel's legs, light following the progress of his hands. He then travelled back up, handing the torch off to Cameron so he could assess properly, carefully pushing Daniel's shirt upwards. There was more bruising on his left side and Jack leaned over, pressing his ear to Daniel's mouth.

Cameron grimaced, knowing Jack was listening for the tell-tale liquid wheeze that would indicate a punctured lung.

Jack sat back up and Cameron tilted the torch so they were both dimly illuminated. "How long you been in here you figure?" He asked, cocking his head to the side. Cameron swivelled the light to look at his watch and sighed when he saw the facing was smashed, the hands frozen at the time of impact. He looked to Jack who tapped his bare wrist with an apologetic grin. Cameron tilted the light towards Daniel's hand and could see he had on a wide leather band. Jack picked up his hand and then snapped back a strap and a watch face was revealed. He tilted the watch so Cameron could read the date.

"Three days, give or take a few hours." He said. "How the hell did you find us?"

An expression closely resembling guilt washed over his face, taking away some of the starkness and Cameron was happy to see the old Jack emerge. "If I tell you, you have to swear not to tell Daniel." He said.

Cameron hadn't slept in three days, he was hungry, thirsty and pretty sure the unpleasant smell that was making his eyes water was actually _him_.

Despite this, he laughed.

xxxxxxx

"I want to be your champion in this Daniel, but you have to give me something." Sam said.

She could feel Daniel pacing behind her, his impatience with himself and the world in general emanating from his very being like a tangible thing. He had entered her lab, still sure that they were _missing_ something about the Kerroan people, but after three weeks he still hadn't been able to make a dent in the translation of the "borrowed" book and although Sam had been Daniel's wingman on numerous other forays into the academic, she couldn't this time. He wanted to return to Kerroa for further investigation, but without a place to start she had had to agree with both Mitchell and Landry that Kerroa was now in the hands of the diplomats who were negotiating mining rights.

"Have you tried contacting the Tok'ra or the Asgard?" Sam asked.

"Yep, sent a message to both. Mitchell made me include in the message that the matter wasn't urgent so _strangely_ enough they haven't bothered to get back to me." Daniel pulled himself onto her lab table, his feet dangling and arms crossed in annoyance.

"Why are you so certain there's something up?" Sam had finally given up on getting her own work done. Daniel's had been suffering and he seemed intent on completely derailing her also. She loved Daniel dearly, but understood why he could make people madder than anyone else and why enemies would often try to kill Daniel first. "I mean, you've had suspicions before that haven't panned out and you've let them go."

"There's something... I don't know. It's like when you have a name on the tip of your tongue. There's something a little familiar about the writing in the book, not enough to help me translate it, and also the name Kerroa, like I've seen something in passing but didn't pay attention to it because it wasn't important at the time." Daniel flapped his hands in a helpless gesture and then grimaced. "I sound crazy and obsessive right?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

Daniel seemed to shake himself. "Sorry, you were working. It drives me nuts when Jack interrupts me and just launches into hockey talk, and I'm doing the same thing to you."

Sam reached out and patted his knee. "It's fine. My natural state is to be behind but since we don't have the General around anymore... let's just say I'm a little weirded out to be up to date."

"We need to train Mitchell better don't we?" Daniel said with a wry grin.

"Yep. He's too damned polite. He needs to learn to barge in without warning and start playing with everything."

"Otherwise it just doesn't feel..."

"Natural." They finished together, both smirking.


	4. Tagged

"It's a bit mean that he doesn't know." Cameron said, his voice strained as he helped Jack lift Daniel between them. Jack had jimmied the cell door from the other side and had explained that it looked as if Cameron and Daniel had been locked up and left, probably to starve to death. Cameron fought the urge to shiver. He had also heard tell of how Jackson had once been a skinny little geek and he felt wistfulness for those days as his back protested miserably about the weight he was being forced to bear.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time." Jack responded, humour in his voice despite the effort. "I was going to do it to Sam but she might have negated it with all the gadgets she's around all the time. I figured she was usually with Daniel when they get captured. Plus, she's more likely to find out and while if Daniel did he'd be annoyed, Sam would actually kill me."

"Why didn't you just ask him?"

Jack snorted. "I _really _don't think he would have agreed. For some strange reason I think he would have been offended."

"Okay, but you said you had Teal'c and Sam with you. How the hell did you find them?" Cameron stopped and adjusted his grip carefully. He was mindful of the very real risk of doing more damage to Daniel, but they had to move him out of the dank cell. Jack waited patiently for Cameron to readjust and then continued his careful shuffle backward, the torch tucked under his arm and pointing behind, illuminating the now open doorway that they were aiming for.

"We had an in-case-of-apocalypse meeting place worked out." Jack shrugged slightly, as much as he was able to with his arms full of unconscious archaeologist.

"Ah" Cameron grinned. "Handy."

"It was actually something we joked about a while ago. I just took a punt that the others would try it and they did."

Daniel jerked suddenly and so viciously that both Cameron and Jack lost their hold on him and he crashed to the ground. He cried out in pain and curled in on himself, protecting his abused ribs. "Easy, Daniel, hey!" Jack reassured, leaning down and laying a gentle hand on Daniel's shoulder. Daniel jerked out of his grasp and then went limp. "Dammit." Jack cursed.

The two men didn't want to risk lifting Daniel again, so waited patiently, one crouched on either side. Luckily, he came to only a few minutes later and his eyes had cleared slightly, enough to recognise that he was amongst friends.

"Hey, how did you find us?" He croaked as Jack tipped a canteen to his mouth and let a trickle of water pass Daniel's lips.

"Tok'ra homing beacon in your butt." Cameron said. Jack's head snapped up at he glared at him.

"Ha, ha, very funny." Daniel sighed and then looked in confusion from Jack to Cameron as both men dissolved into hopeless giggles.

xxxxxxx

Daniel had never actually _asked_ for a research assistant, but he had three. He was usually able to dodge them pretty efficiently but every now and again one of them would corner him because they needed help with the piles of translations they were working through. Daniel got the urgent and interesting stuff and they got palmed off with everything else. He knew he should feel bad but he'd done his fair share of miserable grunt-work, so his sympathy only stretched so far.

He had been in the commissary when a small woman with green eyes and a pixie cut hair had slid into the chair opposite him. He looked up and then groaned inwardly, having recognised her as one of his charges. She had a cup of blue jello and a stack of folders that she dropped onto the table with a mighty sigh.

"We had a meeting." She said, starting to sort through the folders.

"We did?" Daniel was racking his brain for her name but wasn't having any luck. He figured he would probably be wearing the blue jello if he actually admitted that little failing. He wondered if she would be suspicious if he kept referring to her as 'buddy'.

"I sent you a meeting notice and you didn't decline." She said, opening one of the folders.

"I don't think I accepted either, then." Daniel prayed for a klaxon but the mountain was unhelpfully silent.

"I didn't expect you to. I scheduled the meeting so you would know when to hide from me. Not my fault you didn't look at it." Daniel grinned wryly. He thought Jack would like this woman immensely and figured it wouldn't hurt to schedule some time with her on a weekly basis just to see how she was working and help her out, as long as she didn't let on to the other two.

She fanned out a number of photos and launched into where she was having trouble and how far she'd gotten with some carvings on one of the recently explored planets. Daniel worked with her, their heads bent close for three hours until he heard his name. Daniel looked up and saw Cameron standing in the doorway, looking pointedly at his watch. Daniel had no idea what he was late for.

"You really need to learn to hide better. It seems everyone can find you." The woman said with a quirk of her eyebrow and Daniel sighed expansively. He had been furtively checking her paperwork, desperately hoping she had written her name on _something_ but with no success. "You'd better go."

Daniel nodded and glanced up at Cameron, who was still waiting in the doorway. Daniel gathered his own papers together but stopped when the woman held out a panel of silver metal with inscriptions. "I heard you grumping about something to do with Kerroa and the name was familiar." Daniel's mouth dropped open and his eyes moved from the metal panel and back to the woman before him, blinking calmly and with absolutely no idea how obsessed he had been over the last few weeks. She waggled the metal plate and its label swung back and forth. Daniel reached out for it and read his own careful writing.

It said 'Kerroan code key'.

His mind, whether out of desperate gratitude or because the answer to a vexing problem usually came to you when you weren't thinking about it, suddenly produced the woman's name.

"Sandra, I think you need a promotion."


	5. Revelations

Jack had found an old truck somewhere and he, Cameron and Daniel were now bumping along a rock-strewn back road. Cameron stared out the window in horrified fascination as he watched a transformed landscape pass by. Gone were buildings, cars or any other signs of life. There was nothing left but the skeleton of a civilisation. He kept thinking that someone had thrown him through the 'gate and he was on another world.

This couldn't be Earth.

_Couldn't be._

Daniel had been again unconscious and was stretched out on the bucket seat between them, his legs stretched out on Cameron's and his head in Jack's lap. Every now and again Jack would touch fingers to Daniel's forehead and wince, feeling the heat that had bloomed there.

Cameron sorted through his memories of the past few days, trying to reconcile what he was seeing with what he could remember. He had been ordered to take Daniel and board the Theseus, one of Earth's newest Deadelus class ships, since a squadron of unidentified ships had been picked up heading towards Earth. Somehow, these ships had evaded the Asgard long range sensors and had been spotted only when practically on Earth's doorstep. Sam had also been ordered to report to the Theseus but was at home at the time so a transport had left for her.

On the drive to the military bunker that the newly finished Theseus was being housed in, there was a huge explosion that threw the truck they were travelling in off the road. Cameron had pulled himself and Daniel out of the wreckage, his ears ringing and Daniel bleeding and that's when he figured he had passed out. When he came to the first time, it had been while being manhandled into a cell by men in grey coats.

Cameron protested and was clubbed in the head for his trouble. He remembered Daniel being tossed unceremoniously in the cell beside him, the door closing and then darkness. He had reached out a hand to Daniel, placed it on his chest and then waited.

It seemed he had waited for three days.

"You really have Sam and Teal'c with you?" Cameron asked, his eyes still on the devastation that surrounded them, amazed that any of them had survived, let alone all of them.

"Sam was in her basement getting some supplies when the first wave hit. The truck that had been sent to pick her up and most of her house was gone but she was lucky." Jack's mouth tightened. "Teal'c was waiting with me at the airport for my flight back to DC. He got the emergency page and we headed back to the mountain. We were halfway there when we saw it go."

XXXXXXXX

Daniel slid to an ungainly halt in Cameron's doorway, papers flying every which way. He looked confused for a second but then his face

Cleared and he stooped to retrieve his paperwork. Cameron figured that Daniel had something urgent to impart and his first instinct had been to run to Jack.

It was just lucky Cameron had taken up residence in the same office.

He didn't let the temporary confusion put him out though because Daniel looked just plain relieved to see him.

"It was in code!" Daniel panted as he stood, his papers now a crumpled mess in his arms. He entered the room and dumped them on top of Cameron's desk. Cameron sighed as he watched his own reports be shunted unceremoniously sideways.

"Jackson, with you I always feel like I came into the theatre in the middle of the second act. Start at the beginning." Cameron prompted mildly, reaching forward to help sort the array of papers before him, only to have Daniel slap his hands away.

Daniel grinned apologetically. "Sorry, I'm used to Jack." Daniel waved his hands over the mess, indicating that he would like help in putting everything back together. Cameron chuckled and pulled a pile towards him, shoving things back into folders. Cameron's hands were quick and nimble and Daniel finally left him to it. "The Kerroan book. It was actually a journal and written in code. We happened to have an artefact that I'd identified as a code key years ago."

"What are the chances?" Cameron snorted.

"Astronomical." Daniel sighed. "But I've learned to take stuff like that in stride these days. After returning from the dead, every other little coincidence in this universe just seems like small potatoes."

"I can imagine." Cameron grinned, pushing the straightened out paperwork back to Daniel.

"Anyway, let's ignore the very huge improbability that I would find the code key and journal it's related to on two different planets, which was the case here. The Kerroan homeworld is P6X-888. The code key was found on P2A-787. "

"Okay, officially freaky."

"I agree. Although, considering we only have a very limited number of gate addresses we can travel to given the cartouche and the addresses Jack inputted when he had the Ancient stuff downloaded, we do lower the odds against this happening."

"Fascinating, but-"

"Get on with it? I know, sorry. The journal belonged to a man named Mor'tai who was a Kerroan. According to him the Goa'uld only discovered their existence about... twenty years ago, which is an extremely short time span considering. The interesting thing is that the Kerroan homeworld P6X-888 isn't on the Abydonian cartouche."

"So how did the Goa'uld find them if they're simple farmers who don't use the Stargate?" Cameron raised an eyebrow.

"Exactly my question. They must have travelled to other worlds including P2A-787 which was on the cartouche and where we found a code key for a book in their language. The Goa'uld was able to track them down some other way and was worried enough to send a Goa'uld and a Jaffa army to take up permanent residence. Kerroa was only liberated during the recent Jaffa uprising."

"So who was this Morty person?"

Daniel sighed. "Mor'tai was what's known as an Imet'i. The closest translation I could get would be a General in terms of our military. He was important and commanded thousands of troops."

"Troops?"

"Kinda negates the whole 'simple farmer' thing doesn't it?"

"Did the Goa'uld blast them back into the stone age or something? We've seen that before haven't we?"

"We've seen advanced populations completely wiped out that were a threat and also those that were conquered and enslaved, yes. From all the evidence we've gathered though, the Kerroans were the farmers we saw when the Goa'uld arrived. I think they were advanced enough to know the Goa'uld was coming and to react and plan for it. They may have known that their technology wouldn't be able to rebuff a full-scale attack and so... hid what they were."

"What exactly were they?" Cameron asked, knowing the answer wasn't going to be good.

"A population that would directly be in competition with the Goa'uld. They were world conquerors."

"Holy crap." Cameron breathed.

"Yep. We just decimated the only race in the Universe that had forced them to shut up shop."


	6. A Line in the Sand

Cameron had almost fallen asleep sitting up when he heard a gentle cough from behind.

"I keep forgetting that's not my spot anymore." Jack said, leaning a shoulder on the door frame.

"What?" Cameron furrowed his brow in confusion and Jack nodded at the seat Cameron was in, next to Daniel's bedside. "Oh, ah, I was just-"

"Mitchell, I'd be annoyed if you _weren't_ sitting there." Jack chastised mildly when Cameron moved to vacate the seat, waving Cameron back into place. Jack sighed, crossing one ankle over the other. "You're still wondering if this is your fault, right?" Jack guessed.

Cameron grimaced. "You guys kept the world safe for nine years. I only had it for eight months and it's fallen into the hands of a completely different enemy we'd never even _heard_ of before."

"Do you think the war with the Goa'uld was Daniel's fault?"

"No!" Cameron snapped, jerking his head slightly in surprise.

"Well, he did, for a long time. He was the one that opened the stargate and exposed us to the snakeheads in the first place."

"They would have found us eventually." Cameron argued, anger rising at Jack for attacking a man that was currently in no position to defend himself.

"Exactly." Jack said, his lips curling into a wry grin. "_Nobody_ blamed Daniel, except Daniel... and Kinsey maybe. He opened the stargate but what happened after was not his fault. We had a stargate and the Goa'uld would have come through themselves if we hadn't gone through first. As a matter of fact, they did a year after we closed the 'gate on Abydos." Jack quirked an eyebrow. "Daniel was worried about the Kerroans but he didn't have anything concrete until it was too late. Even with enough warning I'm not sure there would have been a hell of a lot we could have done."

"Logically, I know that. In the back of my mind though I wonder if this would have happened if it had been the old SG-1. The world never ended on your watch." Cameron looked down at his hand which had found its way to Daniel's chest in a mirror of their time in the cell. Daniel had been stirring fretfully but stilled under the contact and Cameron looked back to see Jack smiling.

"World hasn't quite ended yet, so far as I can tell. I know I gave SG-1 to the right guy, more now than ever."

xxxxxx

"This is all based on a _book?" _Landry rubbed his temple, watching Daniel Jackson pace the conference room fretfully. His team mates were sitting at the table and watching the man's movements. Landry had one hell of a headache coming on and the current meeting with SG-1 was not helping matters.

"It's a Kerroan journal but yes, this is based on a book." Daniel said, waving the book in question.

"What if it's a work of fiction? Bored farmer writing sci-fi." Landry watched in fascination as Daniel turned an alarming shade of purple at the very _idea_ he had just proposed.

"The Kerroan people are not the mild-mannered technologically-deficient farmers we have been lead to believe they were. It was a cover to avoid destruction by the Goa'uld and now that the Goa'uld no longer poses a serious threat, they're coming out of retirement of their previous occupation."

"That being?" Landry knew he was asking for trouble but he was having trouble getting his head around a great army of Kerroans laying waste to all they saw when Doctor Aimes, the anthropologist that had been working with them for six months, had often used the word 'backward' when trying to describe the men and women he studied.

"Much like the Goa'uld but without the whole parasite part. They move from world to world, stripping it of all valuable resources and taking people as slaves. They had to scale down their current activity because although they are capable of interstellar flight, they could not compete with the sheer strength of the Goa'uld system Lords and what they could wield. According to the journal the ships that the Kerroans have were hidden throughout their galaxy near smaller, uninhabited worlds with stargates that had been either already mined dry by the Goa'uld or had nothing of value in the first place."

"What makes you think they're going to come here?"

"Wouldn't you? We're currently in the process of building more Daedelus class ships but we aren't even close to having anything resembling a real fleet, but we have the potential to. They're basically going to come and eradicate us before we become a problem."

"The Goa'uld tried that." Landry said, waving a hand dismissively.

"The _Goa'uld_ didn't try it. Two separate System Lords did and we were damn lucky both times. A small suicide unit took out the first two ships and the second time we basically depleted the Ancient weapon system fighting back Anubis." Both Teal'c and Sam winced when Daniel mentioned that none of them had been expecting to return from the first mission.

Daniel finally lowered himself onto a chair and steepled his fingers underneath his chin. "Let's not kid ourselves. We bluffed our way out of being annihilated and if the System Lords had stopped their infighting for two seconds to work together to destroy us, we wouldn't have had a chance. This is far worse."

"How?"

"There is a cohesive army that _isn't_ made up of a mix of discontented slaves and egomaniacal parasites. This is a military movement against us."

Cameron leaned forward, placing one palm flat on the desk and looking Landry levelly in the eye.

"And their guns are bigger."


	7. The First Move

Sitting across the kitchen table with dark hooded eyes, Cameron was finally able to study Jack O'Neill properly.

The man was the stuff of legend, his name bandied about and tied to the most outrageous stories Cameron had ever heard. Here, across from him sat the man who had flown with the Stargate strapped to his X-302. He'd saved the world a bunch of times and pretty much single-handedly made friends with a race so alien and advanced to be beyond anything Cameron could have imagined. Cameron wanted to look at the face across from him and see a hero.

Instead, all he could see was a very tired man.

"Go fish." Jack said looking at the cards he had fanned in his hand.

"We're playing poker." Cameron chuckled.

"Ah."

They both looked up when Sam entered the room. She smiled wanly. "He's awake."

"Is he...?"

"He's complaining and in a foul mood."

"That's my boy." Jack grinned. Cameron watched as the tiredness seemed to leak out of Jack like water.

He was amazed, but not surprised.

xxxxxx

"We've lost contact with SG-14" Landry advised, looking over them all with a grim face.

"They were - "

"On the Kerroan homeworld, yes Doctor Jackson." Landry agreed. "We sent them through only about an hour ago and lost radio contact almost immediately. We sent through a MALP and... well... you should probably see for yourself."

Landry stepped back and flicked the switch on the conference room television. He pushed the video that was already sitting in the slot home and pressed play. SG-1 watched as the MALP passed through the event horizon, tipped crazily and then a few moments later there was static.

"What the hell was that?" Cameron asked, tipping his head to the side to try and make more sense of what he'd just seen.

"From what we can tell, they moved the 'gate." Landry's face was ashen and he looked... mad.

"Where to?" Sam stepped forward and played the footage again, scrunching her nose and tilting her head. "Wait, it almost looks as if-"

"Holy shit." Cameron barked, having realised just what he was seeing on the second playback. Daniel and Teal'c looked at him with identically curious expressions but Cameron's gaze was locked on the screen, once more filled with static. Sam had turned slightly and the colour had drained from her face.

"Yep, they pushed the damn thing up to a cliff, let us open it and walk a team of our people straight on through."


	8. Assigning Blame

"You're thinner." Jack was carefully wrapping Daniel's mid-section with makeshift bandages that used to be a hockey shirt of his and had noticed the awful way Daniel's ribs showed through his skin.

"Crash diet. Sam said I was getting a bit soft." Daniel's sharp intake of breath was Jack's only clue that the younger man was suffering. Jack was constantly amazed at how tough and resilient Daniel was. Jack had had bruised ribs more times than he could count on one hand and had had to do without painkillers a time or two himself.

Knowing what Daniel was going through didn't make it any easier to watch.

"Well, I was going to say something but Sam's always more tactful than me." Jack chuckled, trying to mask his very real concern that Daniel might actually have internal damage of some kind that they couldn't do anything about.

"Poking me in the belly and making jelly-wobbling noises is tactful?" Daniel asked dryly, watching Jack work.

"Compared to what I would have done, yes. I think the whole alien invasion just for your benefit was a bit of overkill though, don't you?"

"You know me…" The hollowness in Daniel's voice made Jack look up sharply. "Causing alien invasions is my shtick."

"Oh for cryin… Mitchell, get in here!" Jack bellowed, making Daniel flinch and then yelp in pain. They both heard boots thumping towards Jack's bedroom and them Cameron appeared, breathing heavy and looking terrified. He stopped in the doorway and looked from an upright Daniel to Jack and back again, confusion replacing his concern.

Daniel tried to struggle into a loose t-shirt as Jack regarded the two men on opposites sides of the room. "I'm tired of the guilt parade you two got goin' on. If it's a plot to drive me insane then keep at it, it's working." Jack snapped, reaching forward and gently tugging Daniel's shirt over his head and down in a quick, practiced move.

"Sorry, sir, I don't follow." Cameron crossed arms over his chest and leant a shoulder on the doorframe.

"If I hear either of you trying to take the credit for any alien invasions now, or in the future, I'm going to crack your skulls together." Jack banged his hands together with a loud snap.

"Okay, Jack. I'm sorry. Geez." Daniel grumbled

Jack sighed heavily and stalked out of the room, leaving a gob-smacked Mitchell and a pissy Daniel. He found Sam at the end of the hallway, one hand over her mouth, stifling a chuckle. "Did you ground 'em?" She asked, a smirk finally winning it's way to the surface of her face.

"Three way skull cracking." Jack growled, brushing passed her and banging out the back door that led to the dock and his lake. Teal'c was out there meditating and Sam hoped that the Jaffa would be able to calm Jack down.

Cameron had turned in the doorway and regarded her with an eyebrow raised.

"It's _not_ your fault." Sam said and her eyes ticked to Daniel who had appeared in the doorway by Cameron's side. "_Either_ of you."

"We know that." Daniel said, shrugging slightly and wincing as the movement jarred his ribs. "It's just fun to see him go that particular shade of red."

Sam nodded and headed back to the kitchen. She didn't believe him but she was willing to let it slide.

xxxxxxx

The long-range sensors the Asgard had given them had failed to pick anything up. First warning they had of approaching ships were pictures beamed down to them from good old-fashioned human-built satellites, much good as it did them. Landry supposed it would be funny if the situation weren't so serious

Landry stood in the control room, a calm center to a frantic world as people rushed about, giving out readings and the latest data. He knew their running about was useless but he didn't say it.

He would leave them with the thought that their last few hours weren't futile.

The order had already been given to recall his offworld teams but not to Earth. They were instructed to proceed to the Alpha site and given no other specifics. Landry knew it was unfair to do that to him but hell, there was a lot about their current situation that wasn't fair.

Having fought against the Goa'uld and the Replicators for nine years and then being obliterated by a race they hadn't even heard of up until six months ago, just for a for instance.

Landry proceeded up the control room stairs and entered his office.

The red phone was already ringing.


	9. Survivors

Sitting on the short pier out the back of Jack's cabin, feet dangling in the cold water, Daniel for a moment could believe that everything was normal. Then he would breathe in a little too deeply and there would be the dull ache that reminded him that their world was no longer their own and that everyone he had ever known, apart from the precious people in this cabin, were very probably dead.

There was a gentle thump as someone dropped down to sit beside him and Daniel looked up, squinting in the dying light of the day. Cameron was looking out over the water and although he looked drawn and tired, he also looked determined.

"I'm tired of cooling my heels." He said, his voice gruff.

"We're a little outnumbered." Daniel sighed, dropping his other foot to join the first in the cold water. He spread his toes thoughtfully and could feel iciness slip between them, turning them a little numb. He knew he would pay for it when he dragged them out with pins and needles but for now the sensation was better than anything he had felt in a while.

"We're hiding. We can't hide forever." Cameron reached down and trailed his own fingers in the water and then scrubbed his face and over the back of his hair.

"I don't think we're going to… or could for that matter. From what I understand it's only a matter of time before the Kerroan ground troops start going door to door, picking up survivors. They'll take what they need and then take off. Apparently it's all pretty quick. They then launch their secondary weapons from orbit which render the planet's atmosphere unlivable, just to make sure there's no one left."

"Tidy." Cameron snorted.

"You guys!" Sam called from the back deck. She was looking flushed and excited and waving for Cameron and Daniel to follow her. Cameron stood and offered a hand to Daniel, who took it gratefully. They both trotted into the house and through to the front door and stopped, Daniel running into Cameron's back.

Jack stood before them with fifteen young men and two women behind him. They all looked a little grubby and worse for wear but otherwise unharmed.

"Hel-lo." Daniel breathed.

"Strangest thing." Jack said, reaching back and clapping one of the young men on the shoulder that looked to be about twenty years old. "There's this ice rink on Peterson that I never knew about. Underground job that most of the kids go to. Apparently these guys were training when the first bombs fell and have been hiding out ever since."

"Training?" Cameron asked, incredulous.

Daniel's eyes ticked toward Jack's truck and heaped in with a load of backpacks and bags of looted supermarket food was a bunch of sporting equipment that had Daniel chuckling.

"You found a hockey team?" He asked, a little breathless.

Jack grinned, nodding. "Strictly Sunday playing, not really a team kind of hockey team, but yes. I also figure," Jack said, his eyes straying to Cameron. "That we've been lucky so far but being stationary like this is suicide. We have an Alpha site to get to."

"Jack, we don't-" Know if the Alpha site is still there is what Daniel had been going to say, but stumbled into silence when Jack held up a warning hand.

Later, when the sun had gone down and the gathered survivors had had their first real meal that didn't involve candy they'd scrounged from the ice rink vending machines, Daniel found one of the girls that had come back with Jack out on the back deck by herself. She was wearing one of Jack's hockey jerseys and Daniel wondered just how many of them Jack had. He'd seen eight so far; including the bandaging that was keeping his insides where they should be and this girl made nine.

Daniel watched her for a minute, noting how painfully tiny she looked and the sense of loss she invoked almost had Daniel running back into the house and as far away from her as he could get. She looked up though, at that very moment, and smiled. There was certain toughness to this tiny girl that he remembered from another woman whom he had adored and missed greatly.

"Rae, is it?" Daniel guessed, lowering himself down onto the deck beside her. The introductions had been rushed and while Daniel was usually good with names he knew he was only partially sure that that was her name.

"Mae." She corrected mildly.

"I know it's a little hard to believe but there _is_ another planet out there which will be safe for us and has a lot of our people. Of course, you've lived through an alien invasion so I guess you're probably willing to believe anything at this point."

"Considering I thought I was going to die underground at an ice rink, I'm willing to take a lot on faith." Mae agreed and Daniel saw a flash of her white teeth in the darkness but couldn't tell if it had been a grimace or a smile.

"We'll get you out of here." Daniel promised although a small part of himself internally berated him for making it a promise, considering he didn't know for sure. They had a few obstacles in the way of them and safety, not least of which was the very real possibility that the Alpha site was just as dead as Earth soon would be.

Mae turned to face Daniel, tucking a wisp of stray hair behind her ear and regarding him, as if she were looking for something. Seemingly satisfied, she stood and touched his shoulder. "We're not yours to save." She said, her voice tight. "With your help, we'll save ourselves, or we won't. Just don't be too disappointed if it's the latter."

Daniel watched her pad barefoot back into the house and then leaned his forehead on the railing.

She didn't believe that they were going to survive, and Daniel didn't blame her one bit.

xxxxxx

Like Hammond before him, Landry refused to evacuate to the Alpha site with the rest of his charges. Like a good captain, he planned to go down with the ship. Hammond had called personally to try to get him to change his mind but Landry had simply asked if he was also evacuating and when Hammond had been silent, Landry had chuckled.

He watched as the fourth group trudged through the wormhole, a group made up mostly of scientists and medical personnel. The next group was botanists and research scientists, important additions to a fledgling community. A movement at the side of his vision caused Landry to look up.

"Still no word, Sir?" Colonel Dixon, commander of SG-13 was standing in the doorway. SG-13 had come back from P4X-989 only five minutes before the first reroute command had gone out. Landry knew they should be at the Alpha site, but having come through to Earth already, they had begged to stay until the last group of evacuees.

"No, but one thing I've learned about SG teams," Landry smiled. "They're damn resilient."

SG-1, 12, 19 and 24 had been on downtime when the first warnings came. He had sent out word for all to return but the attack had been too swift and there had been no word from any of them. He'd also tried reaching Jack O'Neill, but knowing he had been in Colorado Spring at the time gave him little hope that the General had survived. Landry's last communication from Washington had been over an hour ago and he figured they'd lost that too.

"Have your team ready to go." Landry said. He saw Dixon open his mouth to protest but he held up a hand. "It's an order Colonel." He clarified and Dixon nodded. Dixon was a man who reminded Landry greatly of Jack, and probably should have been a General himself by now but had wanted to stay with a front line team.

There were little flashes of insubordination every now and again that kept his name from being put forward when promotions were on the table.

Landry was sorry for it, seeing the man now straighten and nod once, leaving the control room to gather his men.

In a larger way he was glad though, because it had probably saved the man's life.


	10. The Last Line

"I wanted to be angry with you."

Jack had asked Cameron if he was up for a little reconassaince which is why they were now on one of the little used access roads leading to Cheyenne Mountain, a dark green tarp spread over the bodies and watching the Mountain with field glasses, making notes on ground troop placements and also checking if they had found the emergency entrance. It looked as if the Kerroans had not which was reassuring.

Cameron now shifted slightly to regard Jack. Light played off his eyes but otherwise his features in the darkness were a mystery, carefully blurred by camourflage paint. They'd been silently watching for the last two hours until Jack had spoken.

"What's that?"

"I had every right, you know."

"Jack, either you caught the whole cryptic conversation thing from Jackson or he got it from you. Whichever it is, you've lost me."

"They were safe."

"Okay, really going to have to throw me a bone here, Sir." Cameron lowered is own field glasses, knowing they were close to packing it in anyway. There had been a couple of smaller crafts flying over their position and while darkness was a good cover, neither man knew what kind of sensor equipment the Kerroans had and both felt they had been out in the open long enough.

"Daniel, Carter and Teal'c. They were safe." Jack clarified, still not really giving Cameron a true idea of what the General was getting at.

"I really think-"

"The first thing I did when I became General was put Carter in charge. What I _really _wanted to do was take them off the front line. With the replicators and the Goa'uld still running about there wasn't much I could do. Plus, if any of them got even a hint that I was trying to move them out of active duty, they would have dug their heels in. Especially Daniel."

Cameron rubbed his forehead, knowing General O'Neill was not one usually to show any kind of emotion, except with the people he regarded family. He had something to offload and Cameron was glad he felt comfortable enough to do it, but a prickling of heat was flushing over his skin because he knew where this was going and he'd been having similar thoughts.

To have them vocalized by the General was his worst nightmare.

"So I was subtle. I accepted the job in Washington, knowing it would be easier for them to leave if I did it first. I had a two month period to wrap everything up and nominate my replacement so I started working on Carter, knowing she would be the hardest. I gently prodded and poked and finally had her thinking that they were going to scrap most of the R and D at Area 51 and that only a strong leader would save it. She was suspicious but once she was there she was like a kid in a candy store.

"Daniel was a little easier. He'd been wanting to go to Atlantis since it was discovered and would have gone with the first team but I couldn't let him when it was possibly a one way trip. The possibility that we could get him back if we needed him made it easier.

"Teal'c was easiest of all. He had already been hinting at wanting to go back to Chulack and help his people rebuild. He pretty much stayed for us, Daniel, Sam and I. For us to be separating, it made it easier for Teal'c to go."

"When the Kerroans attacked, Sam should have been safely in a bunker in Area 51 and able to be evacuated with the other scientists to the Alpha site, Daniel should have been a galaxy away and Teal'c should have been on Chulack."

"Sir, I thought you didn't want me blaming myself for anything that's happened." Cameron said, his brow furrowing.

"I don't want you to blame yourself for the end of the _world_." Jack said, his voice steely. Cameron shivered at the pure power of the man lying beside him. "I want you to know that you _are_ responsible for them. We have precious little resources left but I want you to promise me that no matter what, your priority will be getting them out."

Cameron blinked. "I don't think we should save people based on personal-"

"You think this is about my feelings for them?" Jack snapped. He folded back the tarp roughly and started packing it away, his eyes on the sky and the surrounding landscape, ever mindful of the enemies that were very close by. "Teal'c is one thing, but can you grasp just what the human race would _lose_ if we lost both Daniel and Carter?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Mitchell, we need to keep at least those two safe if we're going to have any chance of coming back from this. They were supposed to be out of the firing line. I'd maneuvered it so that they were but then you come and fill their pretty little heads with all this team stuff and they're suddenly right back in it. Surprise, surprise, it's just like the old days with Daniel only narrowly avoiding getting his ass shot off and Carter thinking she can find a way to solve everything. Teal'c just wants someone to hit."

"I'm not sure what you want from me." Cameron said, his voice low.

"I want you to be their commander and know that they are your _only _responsibility in this. I know it sounds harsh and that we have a bunch of kids with us but the Alpha site needs both Daniel and Carter to reach it. We can get picked up by the Daedelus there and get them back to Atlantis if need be so they can find a way to save our planet."

Cameron knew what O'Neill needed to hear from him and knew he had no choice, and that he didn't want one.

"Yes Sir." He said simply.

xxxxxx

Watching his daughter disappear through the wormhole had been the second hardest thing Landry had ever done.

Lying to her was the first. He'd told her that he was heading out with the last group and that he would see her at the Alpha site. Watching from the conference room, he saw her eyes stray up to his and something in them told him she _knew_.

Maybe she's only realized at the very last second before she stepped through the 'gate, but she knew that looking back at him, it would probably be the last time she ever saw him.

Landry raised a hand slowly and she raised one in return, which drifted up to her forehead in a small salute.

Landry smiled.

"Sir?" Landry turned to see Dixon in the doorway, flanked by the other members of his team and also what looked like SG-24, the unfortunate team who had only been in rotation for a total of five days and had not even been through the Stargate yet.

"You ready to go?" Landry asked, clasping his hands behind his back and noticing that they weren't geared up for travel. They had weapons but no packs.

"The thing about that, Sir." Colonel Dixon said, running a hand up and down the back of his head and cocking a sideways glance at Landry. "We've discussed it and while we don't want to disobey a direct order, none of us can follow the last one you gave. Either you rescind our standing orders to evac or we're all resigning." Dixon held up a napkin and Landry could see there was writing on it. He figured there was probably the words 'I resign' and then eight signatures.

"What, praytell, do you think you _should_ be doing instead?" Landry asked, knowing that if these men resigned then he was expected to stop them even going through the 'gate. He, of course, wouldn't do that but he also knew that they wouldn't try.

"With all due respect Sir, we should be holding the 'gate. We've got people out there and you said it yourself, they're resourceful. We feel we should hold here until the very last moment to give them a chance… to come home."

"Do you now." Landry sighed, rubbing his forehead. Landry didn't think he'd ever been so exhausted in his life. Sleep when I'm dead, he thought wryly, which shouldn't be too far off.

"Yes Sir." The six men and one woman standing behind Dixon nodded solemnly.

"Considering if you resign you give up any right to evacuate to the Alpha site, I guess I have no choice." Landry said, trying to keep his voice neutral and not betray the emotion he was feeling. This happened too close to watching his daughter disappear.

"Hold the Line." Landry said and eight SGC personnel snapped him a salute.


	11. Guardian

Sam watched Daniel with a mixture of concern and dread. Jack had asked her to keep an eye on him because he was still concerned that Daniel's injuries might have been worse than he was letting on. Jack had seen men and women survive days and even weeks longer than they should have with horrific injuries just on pure tenacity.

They had both agreed that Daniel was pretty damn tenacious.

So Sam had watched, looking for any signs that suffering was being concealed, but either Daniel had been a consummate actor, or they'd been very lucky. Up until the night before they were expecting Jack and Cameron back Sam hadn't seen anything to indicate that either Daniel's head or torso injury was worse than it seemed.

Now, watching him as he cleared away the piles of plates left over from the large dinner they had just made, Sam saw Daniel wind down like a tired doll. His hands had been moving slowly but surely but they stilled, a mug still clasped in them. His eyes glazed and he seemed to be looking at a point up and to the left of the window looking out onto the lake.

"Daniel?" Sam said quietly but he didn't seem to hear her. Sam's heart clenched and she repeated his name a little louder and with more concern. A presence by her side and a large hand on her shoulder told her Teal'c had arrived in the doorway also.

"Do not be concerned Colonel Carter." He said, his voice a mere breath next to her ear. "I have seen DanielJackson this way before."

Sam turned her head slightly so she could see Teal'c's profile. The moonlight glinted off the gold of his tattoo and she had always wanted to ask why he hadn't cut it off like other Jaffa had done that she had seen. She was never brave enough to form the words and thought it might be too personal a question anyway. Instead she furrowed her brow.

"He's concussed and I think there's something worse." She said.

"No." Teal'c disagreed quietly. "When DanielJackson first came back to us he would often join me in meditation. I could not achieve full Kel'no'reem anymore but I kept it up because it seemed to comfort him in a way unlike anything else." Sam smiled slightly, knowing it was just Daniel's way to get someone to do something they needed and think they were doing it just for him. "I believe because he was once ascended he can achieve an out-of-body state that I cannot."

"What?" Sam exclaimed and her voice seemed too loud in the quiet of the evening. She glanced at Daniel quickly but he still seemed… not there.

"DanielJackson can separate his waking mind from his body. He does not remember it but then he has knowledge that he could not have had. It took long hours of meditation to achieve this once but I think he may have improved."

"You think he can astral travel?" Sam asked, incredulous.

"He has traveled out of his physical form before. He just has a more limited capacity to do so at present."

"How do you know?" Sam asked but a slight shrug was her only answer. "Well, how do we get him back?" She demanded instead.

"He will come back on his own. I believe he is currently looking for O'Neill and Colonel Mitchell." Sam blinked and Teal'c smiled. "DanielJackson is far more attuned to us than we could ever hope to be to him. He knows something is wrong."

"Wrong?" Sam felt a cold prickle down her spine.

The sound of the mug that Daniel had been holding smashing to the floor made both Sam and Teal'c snap to attention. Daniel was leaning on the sink looking pale and shaky. Sam was across the room in two strides and with a hand on the small of his back, guided him into a kitchen chair.

"I'm sorry, I must have zoned out for a sec." He apologized.

"Are you okay?" Sam touched fingers to the base of his neck and pressed, rubbing soothing circles.

"No… I mean yes, but… I think there's something…"

"Wrong." Sam finished for him. She looked at Teal'c who nodded once.

Miles away, Jack had felt a presence ghost over him. He had stopped in his tracks which had saved his life. Dust from weapons fire kicked up at his feet and he saw Cameron diving to the side, rolling into the ditch that ran along the access road they had been walking along. Only a few heartbeats later Jack had rolled in on top of him.

"Jesus am I ever glad your spider sense is working!" Cameron panted, trying to extricate himself from out underneath Jack's wiry frame. Jack rolled onto his stomach and levered himself up so he could see over the lip of the ditch.

He couldn't see any sign of their ambush.

"I guess they know we're here." Jack grumbled, reaching down and pulling a particularly jagged stone from underneath his belly and flinging it aside. He ignored Cameron's first comment, not knowing how to explain why he had stopped so suddenly or the fact that he could've _sworn_ he'd heard Daniel's voice saying his name abruptly, in the tone he usually reserved for when Jack was playing with something of historical value like it was a gumball machine toy.

He felt Cameron scramble up beside him and looked at the younger man. "We're pinned." Cameron sighed.

"Yup." Jack agreed.

"They have the higher ground."

"Yup."

"I'm glad you're taking this so well." Cameron grinned, despite their dire situation.

"Yup."

"Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"Now what?"

"We wait for the cavalry." Jack said with a shrug.

xxxxxx

There had been reports of weapons fire and although his men and women were eager, Dixon didn't give the order for them to leave the base.

"They might be trying to make it here, Sir." Oswald, a man who looked so young he could've been playing soldier with the neighbourhood kids, piped up.

"We hold the 'gate." Dixon said sharply. "The fight will come to us eventually."


	12. Nightmare

Jack spotted them first, walking blatantly up the middle of the access road and he was just thinking that it was all wrong and Sam would've never let them do that. Body frozen by lying prone for almost six hours, he watched his old team. Daniel was in the middle, slightly behind and to the left of Teal'c, who had taken point. Sam was bringing up the rear, looking alert, but not alert enough.

Ambush, Jack thought and wondered why he wasn't screaming the word aloud at the top of his lungs.

There was a faint sound like the crack of distant thunder and Jack watched the fine spray of red arc from Daniel's neck as he was caught by a sniper bullet. He heard Sam cry out and run toward Daniel instead of for cover like she _should_ have and the next shot found her exposed back, pitching her forward so that she landed on the graveled road with a horrible sliding sound.

Teal'c was bringing his weapon up but it was too late. The third shot took out the Jaffa's right knee and he went down heavily. Teal'c fired wildly but then there was a barrage of shots and most hit Teal'c in the abdomen and legs. He slumped sideways, almost in slow motion and still Jack watched.

"Sir?" A whispered voice startled Jack awake and he cursed under his breath softly. He hadn't meant to doze off but he and Cameron had been pinned for a full day and he'd already been without sleep for a full two days before that.

The access road was empty and Jack rubbed a shaky hand over his forehead.

"They've been taking pot shots at us again." Cameron said in a low voice. Jack realized the weapons fire he had heard hadn't all been in his mind. There was a divot in the ground just in front of his face.

"They're getting closer." He said. He flipped open the leather cover over his watch face. _Daniel's watch_, he thought. Daniel had taken his wrist and put the watch on him before he and Cameron had left without a word. He'd only dozed for about twenty minutes but it seemed in that time the soldiers surrounding them had grown a little bolder.

"You wanna sleep some?" Jack prompted, seeing how Cameron's eyes were lined in red and feeling guilty that he had napped despite his best intentions.

"I don't think I could." Cameron snorted. He raised field glasses to his eyes and scanned the tree line before them and grunted in annoyance. "I still can't spot even one of them."

"You think it's automated defenses maybe?" Jack asked, wondering whether that possibility was a good thing or a bad. If it wasn't actually men surrounding them but just guns then they could be outwitted. On the other hand, automated weapons would keep firing at them without pause, not needing to take their own safety into account.

"Maybe. We only get fired on when there's movement. They're getting closer but it could just be automatic correction. I figure we're pretty screwed either way." Cameron shrugged slightly, as much as he could lying flat on his stomach.

"Sleep for a bit. We're not going anywhere unless we can think of something." Jack urged, knowing he would make it an order if he had to. When they finally made a break for it, neither of them should be dead on their feet.

"I said-"

"You put your forehead down for a sec and I guarantee you'll sleep." Jack sighed. Cameron glanced at him with a raised eyebrow and then nodded solemnly. He stowed his field glasses back in his jacket pocket and rested his forehead on his forearm. Jack smiled when he heard Cameron's breathing even out only a few minutes later.

Jack's radio clicked twice and the startled jerk of his surprise brought about more firing. He felt the whine of a bullet past his ear and scrunched down into the ditch further with a curse. Cameron jerked awake and only Jack's fist in his jacket stopped the man from coming up into a battle-ready crouch that would have killed him.

"Were you _that_ bored?" Cameron snapped.

Jack ignored him, bringing his radio up. It was short-range and he wondered who the hell would be trying to contact them on an SGC frequency. A cold tickle at the back of his spine had him hoping to hell that it wasn't Carter, Daniel and Teal'c walking on up the access road.

Jack clicked twice back and waited, Cameron's eyebrows rising almost to his hairline when he noticed what he was doing.

"This is Dixon, SG-13, come back." A faint, crackly voice issued.

"Holy crap!" Cameron exclaimed.

Jack flicked his radio on. "Damn nice to hear your voice Dixon. I'll leave the 'what the hell are you doing here' till later. O'Neill here." In the back of his mind, Jack knew it might be a trap but he knew the voice and he figured both his and Cameron's positions were as bad as they were likely to get.

xxxxxx

Oswald was looking at Dixon with a relieved expression. Dixon cuffed him upside the back of the head. There were another two clicks on the radio and then a different voice issued forth.

"This is Daniel Jackson, please respond."

Oswald chuckled. "What I heard was true then." He said, watching his commanding officer with wide, amazed eyes. "You just can't kill SG-1."


	13. The Cavalry

There was a muffled report up in the tree line but despite both of them scanning, neither Jack nor Cameron could see any movement. The sound had been different from the automatic fire that had pinned them so effectively and Jack was desperately hopeful that it was one of his team, and not in the bad way.

"I had this dream," Jack began as he rolled over onto his back so it was easier to check his P-90. "That Daniel, Sam and Teal'c just walked up the middle of this road." His hands were sure and quick and he could've checked his weapon with his eyes closed.

Half a magazine still left so he wouldn't bother to reload just yet.

Safety off and one in the chamber.

Cameron had rolled over at the same time as him but had not been as careful. There was the whine of a bullet passing close by and then Cameron cursed. Jack looked sideways and saw blood on the side of the man's head, running down his neck and under his jacket. Jack reached over and grabbed the front of Cameron's shirt, yanking him downward so the artificial wall of the ditch properly covered him.

"How bad?" Jack reached hands towards Cameron's head but he jerked away.

"I think I just lost half an ear." Cameron said, pressing his own hand to the wound that was now bleeding merrily. Jack slapped his hand away and reached over again. They struggled for a second like a couple of kids until finally Jack injected a note of authority into his voice when telling Cameron to hold goddamn still.

Cameron, reminding Jack of Sam at her best, instantly stiffened and tilted his head to give Jack better access. Jack winced as his fingers explored. "You might have to leave the military." Jack said gruffly as he searched his pockets for something to staunch the flow of blood.

Cameron looked at him with a panicked gaze. "Jesus, is it that bad?"

Jack grinned wryly. "Nah, you just might want to grow your hair to cover it. Otherwise I'd say your days of being the prettiest boy in the SGC are over."

Cameron snorted and let Jack press the patch of gauze to his head that he had managed to locate in his top right pocket. "I thought I wasn't in the running considering the way the nurses all fawn over Jackson." He said, holding the makeshift bandage while Jack resumed his pocket search, looking for something to secure it into place.

"Danny's not getting any younger. I'd say you'd have it stitched up in the next year or so." Jack replied. With an "Aha!"of triumph he liberated some bandage tape. Cameron watched him, amazed.

"You got a tank in there and some aerial support as well?" He asked.

Jack cocked an eyebrow. "Of course. I just didn't want to use them until we were _really_ desperate."

There was another muffled report, this time from the tree line at their feet and both Jack and Cameron looked at each other. "You think that's Dixon and his boys?" Cameron asked, checking over his own P-90 as Jack finished bandaging his head.

"God, I hope so. I don't know about you but I'm pretty sick of this whole belly in the dirt thing. I had enough of it in basic training."

"Yes, Sir." Cameron nodded and winced as the movement set off a monster headache that radiated out from his abused ear.

"Ah hell, I'd give you something for that but I think we need to be sharp at the moment."

"No problemo. Ear pain only makes me madder at the enemy." Cameron waved a dismissive hand and Jack looked at him with a grin on his face.

"I'm sorry I never actually got to serve with you." He said, his tone serious but his focus on the place where they'd heard the last weapons fire. Cameron watched his profile for a time and didn't quite know how to answer. "I mean, you take getting shot better than Daniel, and I thought _he_ had it down to a fine art."

Despite the exhaustion, imminent peril and the fact that neither of them knew if the shots being fired all about them were friendly or not, Cameron laughed.

xxxxxx

Every now and again, despite how long he had known the Jaffa, Daniel would be brought up short by how truly _skilled_ he was.

Now, as he watched Teal'c disappear into the trees off the access road they had been following, was another of those times. There was the rustling of foliage only for a few seconds and then nothing.

No sound.

No movement.

Sam motioned for the rest of their makeshift team to both sides of the access road and the little cover it offered and Daniel automatically went to the opposite side so there would be one of them with each group of kids. He looked about himself and saw grim determination and not a small measure of fear on the faces nearby. Daniel was glad to see it because fear made people careful.

He had been worried that these kids would not understand what they were really getting themselves in for, but they had probably done their fair share of growing up in the last few days and weeks.

Your world ending tended to do that.

Daniel remembered just how ancient Cassie's eyes were when they had taken her through the 'gate to Earth the first time. She'd seen more than any little girl should have and although there had been fear, there had also been a level of dark understanding that he also saw in the eyes around him now.

Daniel mourned for them.

He saw Sam on the other side of the road motion, asking him if he saw any other movement and Daniel answered back that he didn't. Teal'c had told them to wait but Daniel knew it would be hard for Sam to do so when it was Jack who was pinned.

There was a muffled report and then another and Daniel watched Sam tense, knowing she was damn close to plunging head first into the trees. He saw her almost do it when there was what sounded like return fire but a hand on her knee stopped her. Mae was next to Sam and that simple gesture had reminded Sam that she had people to look after.

Sam's eyes found Daniel again and he grinned and put his thumb up and then touched his forehead.

Under control, Teal'c's on the case.

Just then, Daniel's radio clicked. "Colonel Carter, DanielJackson. I believe I have neutralized the enemy weapon placements."

"About goddamn time!" A gruff voice crackled forth and Daniel grinned.

"Good to hear your voice, Jack." He said.


	14. Deadline

For a second Daniel felt cold fear grip him as he approached Jack's position and saw Cameron lying flat on his back, a bloody bandage on the side of his head. As Daniel's shadow fell over the Colonel though, he squinted up at Daniel and a smile flashed across his face. "Jackson." He said, relief in his tone. "Don't tell anyone I was rescued by an academic. Might sully my rep."

Daniel cocked his head and grinned down at the other man. "You were actually rescued by a large and imposing Jaffa. Better?"

"Much, thanks." Cameron held out a hand and Daniel took it and wrenched him to his feet. Cameron swayed for a second but a steadying hand to his shoulder from Daniel allowed him the few moments he needed to right himself.

"Head?" Daniel prompted.

"Hurts like a son of a bitch. Ribs?" Cameron prompted back.

"Same." Daniel agreed.

"I leave you alone for two minutes and you find someone else to bitch to." Jack said good-naturedly, appearing out of the treeline with Teal'c in tow. Teal'c inclined his head slightly to Cameron who clapped the larger man on the shoulder in thanks.

"Where are the rest of the happy campers?" Jack asked, stretching expansively until his back cracked.

"Back at he first bend in the road." Daniel flicked his head to indicate the direction and then a smile washed over his face. "We think we caught a lucky break."

"And that would be?" Jack had one hand shielding his eyes and was squinting down the road.

"Dixon and SG-13 are holding the 'gate." Daniel said.

"We know that." Jack sighed.

"I know but that's not the lucky bit. Dixon also has SG-24." Daniel said, waggling his eyebrows.

"What the hell is lucky about that? They're a bunch of kids and not one of them has even _been_ through the 'gate!" Jack was tired and grumpy and had been lying belly down in dirt for longer than he liked to think about. He was not, however, above putting Daniel in a headlock and giving him the mother of all noogies if he didn't reach a point, and fast.

"Wait, isn't that the team Nicholson is on?" Cameron asked.

"Someone want to clue me in?" Jack demanded. He was starting to think that perhaps there would be noogies required all around, Cameron's half-ear be damned.

"Sorry Jack." Daniel looked properly contrite, despite his grin. "Wanda Nicholson wrote her Academy thesis on Sam's 'gate dialing program." Daniel explained. "She's already figured out how to set up an automatic dialing protocol and then lock out the control room so Dixon only has to hold the 'gate room. She was having a little trouble with a few things but Sam is talking her through it now."

Jack blinked. "We just _happen_ to have a mini-Sam in the mountain at the moment?" He asked, incredulous.

"Was our luck not due for a change?" Teal'c asked, completely serious and with only a slight raise of the eyebrow.

"Sure. World destroyed, Daniel battered, Cameron shot, a bunch of kids for a raiding party…" Jack stretched his arms out wide and then shrugged.

"I'd say you were right. We were due."

xxxxxx

Wanda Nicholson, known to most as Nicki and vehemently against any parents that would saddle a poor girl with the name like Wanda, was trying to focus while fighting the urge to be giddily pleased with current events.

The Kerroan incursion and their slight odds at all escaping to the Alpha site not-withstanding, Nicki was in her element. She had a radio clutched in one hand and was on the floor underneath the dialing computer with various wires and other components strewn about herself.

Every now and again, Dixon would wander by to kick her feet and ask about her progress and she would invariably say "Five more minutes, Sir."

As absorbed as she was, she was still not able to completely tune out the sound of weapons fire. Every third or so pass of Dixon's, Nicki would stick out her head and ask him how everything was going.

He would always say 'No problems.'

She wondered if he was bending the truth as badly as she was.

Creating an automatic dialing sequence had been easy. The trickier task was making sure that it could not be overridden once it was set, even if the control room was taken by the Kerroan's. She had factored in a number of fail safes and was now in the process of manually severing some of the connections as well.

Nicki knew it was up to her to make sure that they didn't end up being trapped in the embarkation room with nowhere to go.

Nicki heard a bleep from the upper console. "Oh no." She breathed. Dixon had been making another pass by her and in her scramble to get back up the main computer she knocked him over and they both went down in a tangle of limbs and curses.

"Nicholson? Nicholson are you there?" Sam's tinny voice echoed through the radio and Nicki unceremoniously lurched off of Colonel Dixon to reach for it. As she did, she caught the computer monitor and what was displayed out of the corner of her eye.

Nicki blinked and looked to Dixon with panic on her face. He looked from her, to the computer monitor and then back again.

"Why is there a count down?" He asked, looking at the digital number display on the monitor and the fact that the numbers were rapidly winding downwards.

"I did it, I triggered the automatic dialing sequence. I set a timer so SG-1 and we would have time to get to the 'gate room but I didn't mean for it to start until they were inside the mountain." Nicki's voice had taken on a brittle edge and Dixon recognized the very raw edge of panic she was teetering on.

"Just… just stop it. Reset it." Dixon said, taking her shoulders in his large hands and squeezing, trying to bring her back from the precipice.

"I just spent two hours rigging it so no one _could_ stop it. Something I was doing must have triggered the process!" Nicki looked stricken but Dixon used his grasp on her shoulders to shake her once, gently but firmly and her eyes focused.

"Are you sure?" He asked, his tone level, dragging her back from the precipice.

Nicki took a shaky but deep breath in and then out and her jaw firmed. "Yes. If I try to stop it now, we might not have time for me to redo it." She said.

"Good enough." Dixon nodded and took the radio from her clenched fingers. "Colonel Carter?" He barked.

"Dixon." Sam sounded surprised and a little concerned at his voice.

"You and your people have thirty four minutes to get inside this mountain and to the 'gate room."

Dixon heard a breath. "Understood." A grim voice replied.


	15. Escape

Amongst weapons fire, Daniel was running beside one of the kids when he saw him go down. He turned to go back but felt a hand on his shoulder, propelling him forward. He looked over his shoulder to see Jack's grim face, like he had so many times they had been running for their lives. This was the Jack Daniel was scared of, the man with the military mask who would make all the hard decisions. For a few seconds Daniel thought about fighting him, but then he saw Cameron pass the prone body as well, glancing at it quickly but not stopping.

Daniel kept going, concentrating on Sam's back and the halo of her blonde hair, as he had so many times before. He had to admit, this was the part of the job he didn't miss.

They came to a bend in the SGC corridor and Sam halted their advance, one hand up while she peered carefully around. They hadn't come up against any of the actual Kerroan's as yet, but their automated defenses had been bad enough. They'd already lost three people.

Sam looked back at Jack and signaled, looks all clear.

He signaled back, what are you waiting for then?

Sam raised an eyebrow and then disappeared around the corner.

While being in a big group was not ideal, they had lost any chance at stealth when the timer on the automated dialing sequence had been triggered. Jack had made yet another of the hard decisions, knowing that they all went in together and just tried to barrel their way through, or they wouldn't make it. Breaking up into smaller groups was not an option as they would need as sizable a force as possible if they came up against any resistance.

Daniel supposed that if they didn't make it to the gate, they were dead anyway. He was also disturbed that it wasn't the first time they had been a similar situation.

He was a little weary of the suicide missions.

Daniel would have looked at his chronometer to see how much time they had left but he glanced back and saw it on Jack's wrist. He wondered if it were better not to know.

Sam appeared again and cocked her head, an invitation to follow.

They were running again and all Daniel could hear was the sound of breathing all around him. He had traversed these corridors hundreds, perhaps thousands of times before, yet they seemed alien now, transformed by the shadows cast as the only light was the emergency generators. Despite everything, the SGC had been home to Daniel, and it was fitting that it would be the very last place he would see on Earth before it was destroyed.

Daniel risked a glance beside himself and saw Cameron, looking pasty in the green emergency lighting. Daniel knew it wasn't only the dim light that had Cameron looking that way and he reached out a hand to touch Cameron's shoulder. Cameron seemed to shake himself and looked at Daniel, giving him a 'I'll make it' grin.

Daniel's radio clicked and a gravelly voice said, "Six minutes and there's a welcome party. Hope you're planning on making an appearance."

xxxxxx

Dixon looked at his chronometer and then at Nikki. She held up three fingers and grimaced. The light of the event horizon played across her face and he knew everyone was itching to just run up the ramp and to safety, but they wouldn't until they were sure there was no other option.

Dixon felt something graze his neck and cursed, pulling back behind the wall he was using for cover. He looked back at Nikki again and she was staring at Dixon, a horrified look in her eye. Dixon put his hand up to his neck and felt warm wetness flow over his fingers. He cursed again, expansively, gesturing at Oswald who was on the other side of the gateroom doorway to cover him just long enough for him to rip a piece of his shirt from the bottom and tie it securely around his neck.

Dixon heard the blessed sound of P-90 fire coming from around the corner and motioned for Preston and Femley, two of his SG-13 guys, forward. They moved out into the corridor as two heavily armoured Kerroans rounded the corner at a dead run.

Dixon grinned as he raised his P-90 and shot one in the chest. The other was picked off neatly by Femley. "Gotta love close quarter fighting!" There was a loud concussive blast and Dixon felt as if someone had slapped him on the back, hard. He looked up and around and saw more of the Kerroan ground troops had breached the control room and had managed to destroy the glass viewing window.

He saw Abbot, one of the SG-23 team, take a hit in the back and go down. They were horribly exposed and there was no cover except for the gate itself.

"Everyone, through the gate!" Dixon yelled.

Four faces swiveled his way, all of them shaking their heads.

"That's a goddamn order!" Dixon screamed, risking a look out into the corridor and seeing Femley and Preston retreating backwards, firing the entire time. He caught movement out of the corner of his eye from the other direction and Dixon raised his P-90. If it hadn't been the blonde Colonel Carter, he might have accidentally fired.

"They're right behind us!" Sam called, heading for the gate room. Dixon thanked whatever benevolent beings were watching over them that day as Femley and Preston reached him, still moving backwards.

Sam paused and let a bedraggled crew of teenagers stream passed her. They entered the gate room and en masse stumbled to a halt, awed. "Move it!" Dixon yelled in his best drill sergeant command voice and saw them all as a group, break towards the gate. There was a cry as another was shot in the shoulder but he stumbled through and Dixon let out a sigh.

The last up the corridor were Daniel, Jack, Teal'c and Cameron. Jack shoved Sam as he passed, keeping his body between her and the pursuing enemy. As he passed Dixon, he spared him a glance and grinned. "You look like hell!" He called.

"You took your sweet time!" Dixon snapped back, taking shots at the soldiers in the control room.

Dixon and Jack were the last ones through the 'gate.


	16. A New Beginning

Two thousand, three hundred and sixty four… Two thousand, three hundred and sixty four… 

That was the number that Daniel Jackson kept coming back to while he pitched pebbles into the lake, the cool water lapping at his bare toes. He looked up at the sky and then away again because it reminded him too much of what had happened.

Two thousand, three hundred and sixty four… 

He heard gravel crunch behind and recognized the tread. He knew those footsteps so well because it took the man they belonged to an _effort_ to make sound when he walked.

"Two thousand, three hundred and sixty four." Daniel said, by way of greeting and he heard the other man huff gently. Daniel stooped and trailed his fingers through the bank until he came up with some good-sized stones. He weighed them in his hand and then held out half, which were taken with callused fingers.

"I'm going to ring the neck of whoever thought it was a good idea to tell you the exact number." Jack said gently, skipping a pebble across the water. It hit once, twice and there was a plop as it went under. Jack harrumphed in annoyance because no matter how much he tried; he couldn't get the stones to skip like he could back home.

Daniel threw his next stone flat and it hit the water with a splash. "I'm just trying to get my mind around it." He protested mildly, knowing it didn't so much annoy Jack as disconcert him to hear Daniel obsess.

"So is everyone, including the poor kids who had never even heard of the SGC before it happened."

"But…two _thousand_-"

"Dammit Daniel!" Jack snapped, but a grin tugged his lip. "The only number that concerns me is four."

"Four? Why?" Daniel raised his brows.

"The number of people I expected to survive this and did me proud." Jack said, his grin still in place. Jack could feel Daniel's gaze but didn't meet it, still looking out toward the water. "Did they pick somewhere that looked this much like Earth for aesthetic reasons?"

"It's got to do with the environment. Similar environmental conditions mean a similar looking location. Trees are green and clouds are white because of the makeup of the landscape and the atmosphere. If you want a more scientific explanation, you'd have to ask Sam."

Jack grimaced. "When Sam has kids, I pity the day they ask Mommy why the sky is blue." Jack chuckled.

"Besides, this doesn't really look like Earth." Daniel looked up again and Jack followed his gaze. Although it was daytime, the faint outline of the twin moons could be seen, one with a slightly reddish tinge.

"Close enough." Jack sighed, clasping Daniel's shoulder and squeezing.

xxxxxx

Colonel Dixon was a patient as he could be, but finally escaped from the Doctor's ministrations with a promise that he would take the medication like a good boy and keep the bandaging on his neck clean.

He found Cameron Mitchell and Samantha Carter by the 'gate and joined them.

"… supplies to last very long." Sam was saying and when she noticed Dixon approach, she looked from his face, to his neck and back again. Dixon waved an 'I'm fine' hand and she smiled and continued. "We have four functioning MALPS but we should use them sparingly because then that's it."

"We going offworld?" Dixon asked, his brows rising.

"We're going to have to, eventually." Cameron answered, looking at Sam and shrugging. "The provisions we have can't last indefinitely and we have more people than we expected."

"Two thousand, three hundred and sixty four to be exact." Jack grumbled from behind them and Sam turned, grimacing.

"Sorry." She said and Jack blinked at her.

"You!" He exclaimed.

"He asked." Sam shrugged helplessly. "Then he asked again, and then again and by the twentieth time he'd worn me down."

"How long before we should try Earth?" Dixon asked and watched as Cameron and Sam's faces both fell, simultaneously. Jack noticed the shift in mood as well and knew exactly what it meant.

"You already tried." He said, not asking.

Sam nodded. "Twenty six times. We figure the 'gate's probably-"

Jack held up a hand. "I got it." He said, not wanting the horrible truth to be spoken aloud. He knew it was silly, but he could cling to some small vein of hope while he didn't hear Samantha Carter use the word _buried_. "Just don't tell Daniel how many times you tried or I'll never hear the end of it."

"So, what's the plan?" Dixon prompted, fingering the bandage on his neck until Sam slapped his hand away from it.

Both Cameron and Sam looked at Jack and after beat, Dixon did as well. Jack sighed heavily, knowing he'd just gotten one hell of a promotion, or demotion depending on the way you looked at it.

"Well, kids." He said, clapping his hands together and rubbing. "How about we eat?"

Dixon blinked, but Sam and Cameron both dissolved into hopeless giggles.

Jack turned from them and looked back toward the entrance to the Alpha base, built into a mountain just like their beloved SGC. A few personnel wondered by, most of the hockey kids sat on the ground under the shade of a cluster of trees, and Jack spotted Daniel making his ways towards them from the river, only to be headed off by the tiny but obviously smitten Mae.

"Then, how about we take our planet back." Jack said.

There was a rousing chorus of "Yes, Sir!"

-fin-


End file.
